Part 1. Criminal Law

TEXT 2. CIVIL AND CRIMINAL LAW.

The most useful classification of legal liability for practical purposes is into civil and criminal. The basic difference is that an infringement of criminal law renders you liable to prosecution and, if you are convicted, you are liable to be punished; an infraction of the civil law means that the injured party may sue you and, if you are found liable, you are likely to have to pay a monetary compensation called damages or have some other remedy awarded against you.

One important reason for being able to distinguish between criminal and civil liability is that you can always compromise a claim in relation to the civil law, that is, you can bargain with the claimant (the person or company which is bringing the action against you) with a view to avoiding court action.

Criminal law deals with criminal liability by assigning crimes and fixing punishments for them. Also included in criminal law are rules and procedures for preventing and investigating crimes and prosecuting criminals, as well as the regulations governing the constitution of courts, the conduct of trials, the organization of police forces, and the administration of penal institutions.

As a matter of fact criminal law is based on a number of universal principles. Here are some of them:

· there is a presumption that the accused is innocent and the prosecution must prove his guilt beyond reasonable doubt;

· responsibility can exist only in the presence of guilt;

· a person may not be considered guilty unless all elements of an alleged crime (corpus delicti) have been established in his acts;

· criminal punishment shall be applied only by a sentence of the court.

The following general defences may excuse the accused from criminal responsibility:

· lack of age (if an offender is under 14 he is incapable of committing a crime);

· self-defence (when people have good reason to believe they are in danger of serious injury or death, they can use force to protect themselves);

· defence of family members (courts will not punish someone for using force to rescue a family member from attack if there was good reason to believe the victim was in danger of severe bodily injury or death);

· insanity (but everyone is presumed sane until the contrary is proved);

· duress by threats or duress of circumstances;

· automatism (it may arise as the result of a reflex action or concussion);

· entrapment (if a law enforcement officer induces a law-abiding citizen to commit a crime, which would not have been committed without the involvement of the officer).

Exercises:

Дата добавления: 2017-01-13